by Shannah Jay
What was stopping him? Was this meant to increase her fear?
Then another voice whispered in her ear, causing her to jerk against her bonds in shock. ‘Keep quiet, lass! He’s unconscious. I’ll just pull him off you, then I’ll cut you free.’
‘Deverith!’ She had to bite her lips to keep from sobbing aloud.
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‘Shhh, now! There’s my brave lass. Once you’re free, set your clothes straight as quickly as you can.’
He cut her bonds, then examined Gerrell carefully. ‘Haven’t lost my touch! I hit him just right. That should keep him nicely asleep for a while!’ As soon as she’d dragged on her skirt and torn tunic, he pulled her towards the hole in the rear of the tent. ‘Come on, lass! Try to move quietly. We need to get as far away from here as possible before that fellow wakes up. I’m no match for all those brutes.’
When they were a couple of hundred paces away from the camp, he stopped and asked, ‘You all right, lass? They -
didn’t manage to . . . ’
She threw her arms round him and burst into tears, but although she cried as quietly as she could, her whole body shook with the suppressed violence of her sobs.
‘What did those scum do to you?’ he asked furiously.
‘He - they - only h-hurt me. You were in time to s-stop the worst and . . . Oh, Deverith!’ She began sobbing again.
He let her cry for a few minutes, making soothing noises. When she’d calmed down a little, he asked, ‘Whatever got into you this evening, Karialla? It’s dangerous to go out walking at night, even in the town. To go up on the ridge was asking for trouble.’
‘I don’t know. I felt so restless I couldn’t think straight. What - what made you come after me?’
He shrugged. ‘I sensed something was wrong. I knew you needed me.’
‘How did you find me?’
‘Took me a while. I looked up and down the main streets and around the town meadow first, then decided you must have gone up on the Ridge. You often do that when you want to think.’ He read the question in her eyes. ‘No, I don’t know how I knew it so surely, I just did. By the time I found you, they’d captured you, so I had to follow them and wait for my opportunity to rescue you. It wasn’t till that lout got you on his own that I dared do anything. We’d have been in trouble if he’d decided to make a public show of it. I couldn’t have dealt with all of ’em at once, even when I was a young man.’
He put his arms round her and pulled her close, and she leaned gratefully against the clean, sane warmth of him.
After a minute, however, he became brisk again. ‘Look, lass, we need to give them something to think about besides chasing us. If you’ll stay here for a few minutes, I’ll go and light a fire or two back there in the camp. Really careless with their piles of rubbish, they are.’
‘D-don’t leave me!’
His breath was warm on her cheek. ‘Just for a few minutes, there’s my brave lass. You’ll be safe enough here, I promise.’
The minutes crawled by while he was gone and she jumped at every sound, but wouldn’t let herself give way to more tears. Then a glow appeared in the direction of the valley, getting brighter by the minute. She heard shouts in the distance and panic made her sob in her throat. ‘Don’t catch him!’ she moaned. ‘Oh, please, don’t let them catch him!’
A voice from the other side of the clearing said cheerfully, ‘Don’t worry. They’ll be too busy with the fires to catch anybody for the next hour or so.’
She rushed across and flung herself into his arms again.
He hugged her to him briefly then pulled away. ‘Come on! We’ve got to get going. And I don’t feel we should head back into town straight away.’
‘Not go back to town?’
‘No. Once they’ve put the fires out, they’ll come after us and as it’s a two-hour walk, they might even catch us. So we’ll go in another direction entirely, away from Tenebrak. I feel that would be safer.’ He hesitated, then added, ‘I always have an instinct about danger. Trust me on that.’
‘I do trust you.’ When they had been walking for a few moments, she said in a low voice, ‘They were calling him
“Faction Leader”.’
Deverith sighed. ‘discord madness again.’
‘How has he managed to get a faction together at all?’ she wondered later. ‘You’d have thought people would have noticed something. I mean, he must be getting supplies from somewhere. Weapons. Food.’
‘He must have contacts in town - people who make more profit from Discord than from peace.’
‘Surely not!’
‘I’m afraid so. But they must be clever with the deliveries, because no one has suspected anything.’
They walked in silence with a soft breeze whispering around them and the moonlight patterning their path with triple shadows. The beauty gradually eased her pain.
‘You don’t mind if we stay away from Tenebrak for a while, do you, lass, take a little holiday from our duties?’
Deverith asked when they stopped to drink from a small pool. ‘There’s something I want to show you.’
‘Oh, Deverith, I’d love that.’ The idea of a break was wonderful, just what she needed.
‘And when we do get back, I’ll persuade the Elders to organise a little hunting trip so that we can rid the district of
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this nest of vermin once and for all. For now, though, I think avoidance is our best strategy.’
Her bruises were aching and throbbing, so it was an effort to keep walking. As the night passed she slowed down, but gritted her teeth and doggedly continued to put one foot in front of the other.
Deverith seemed to know how she was feeling without being told. ‘Can you keep going for a little while longer? I daren’t stop to heal your hurts until we’re a bit further away from them.’
‘I’m all right now. The bruises don’t matter.’
‘They do to me.’
She looked shyly sideways at him, but couldn’t think what to say. It almost sounded as if he - as if - But if he was attracted to her, why had he hidden it for so long? ‘Deverith, you know something about all this, don’t you? More than you’ve said.’ Even the deleff seemed to know more than she did.
‘Well, I know a little, not everything. For instance, I think you and I were meant to have this time together in the wildwoods.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ She had to know, one way or the other.
He gave her one of his warm smiles. “It wasn’t right before to think of ourselves, but surely you must have realised I was attracted to you?’ He stopped walking to take her hand and bring it to his lips. ‘That’s not - distasteful to you?’
She could feel the heat rising in her cheekbones. ‘No. I’ve been - attracted to you, too.’
‘Good. So now we’ll do something about it.’
‘But what about Sarann and the others? They’ll be worrying about us if we don’t return.’
‘I told them we’d be gone for a few days. There are no babies due that I know of. Heth and Ferilla will be able to cope with any minor injuries. And Niam and Sarann will keep an eye on the two youngsters. This pack’s got a few things for you in it, but I had to put them together in a hurry, so I may have forgotten something.’
‘That doesn’t matter.’ She stopped to catch her breath, trying to contain her joy. Pavlin had been a dear man, but his gentleness hadn’t been as stimulating as Deverith’s wit and sense of humour. Pavlin had been the love of her girlhood.
Deverith was - he was the love of her mature years.
The joy overflowed and she forgot her aches and pains as they walked through the forest near the town, then into the wildwoods together.
CHAPTER 17 The Wildwoods
By dawn Karialla and Deverith were deep in the wildwoods heading south-west. He seemed to know exactly where they were going, even in the semi-darkness after one of the moons had set, so she plodded along behind him, trying
not to think of how tired she was.
As dawn started brightening the sky above the treetops, he broke the silence. ‘I reckon we’re safe enough now, lass.
Most folk are afraid to come so deep into the wildwoods.’
‘But you’ve been here before, haven’t you?’
‘Bless you, yes! I’ve wandered all over the world - or as far as these two feet would take me, anyway. There are mountains in the north such as you’ve never seen. Great slabs of rock, they are, with their tops piercing the clouds. And below them are forests of resin pines so fragrant it’s a pleasure just to breathe the air. The tang seems to linger in your clothes for days afterwards. I stayed there a whole summer once. Wonderful, it was! No settlements, no people, no Discord, just peace and beauty.’
‘I’d like to see that.’
‘You will one day.’
His words seemed to echo slightly and she looked at him in surprise, but he was whistling under his breath now and concentrating on the path they were taking. He made no attempt to enlarge upon his enigmatic comment, so she sighed and kept her questions to herself.
‘Where does this lead?’ she asked after a while. ‘Do the wildwoods go on for ever?’
‘Now that’s a puzzle I’ve never solved, lass. I had this idea once, when I was much younger, of walking right round the world. But you can’t do it. You go so far then you get lost - and next thing you know, you’re back where you started
- I mean right back where you were when you first had the idea. The exact spot. I’m stubborn, so I tried it several times more. Same thing each time. I couldn’t understand it. I can usually sense which direction is which - it’s another of my gifts - but the deeper you go into the wildwoods, the more confused you get.’
‘Far beyond the wildwoods, in the lands of nowhere, where the deleff dream their dreams . . . ’ she quoted, then stared at him.
‘Mmm. I’ve always thought there must be something in that child’s tale. Lands of nowhere. I think about my efforts to explore the world every time I hear those words and wish I’d succeeded.’
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They walked in silence till they crested a gentle slope then she asked, ‘Why are we going beyond the settled areas now? I mean, why bother, if we’re going to get turned back?’
‘I told you: I want to show you something. And we won’t be going far enough into the wildwoods to get disoriented.’
‘Do you think that’s why people have never founded new settlements beyond the hills where the Teneber rises?
Because they’ve always been turned back by something?’
‘Could be.’
‘I’ve heard that the land isn’t very fertile to the far south and that’s why there are no settlements there.’
He smiled. ‘But folk don’t really know that, do they? Not for sure. It’s just hearsay. Anyway, we’re going south-west, not due south.’
‘There aren’t many settlements in that direction, either.’
‘There are none where we’re going.’
‘What is it you want to show me, then?’
‘I’m not telling you yet. Two or three days from now, you’ll see it for yourself.’
‘You know what, Deverith . . . ’
‘What?’
‘You’re a stubborn, no, a very stubborn old man sometimes!’
He eyed her speculatively. ‘I don’t feel all that old. Not when I’m with you, anyway, Karialla lass.’
She could feel herself blushing and bent to pick a flower, pretending to sniff its perfume, so that she could bury her face in its glowing pink petals and not look at him. He chuckled softly and set off walking again.
As the path narrowed he took the lead and she followed him along the dim green tunnel of foliage. The first tentative rays of the morning sun were just beginning to penetrate the upper branches and bring colour back to the world. A few insects were drifting slowly to and fro in the slanting sunbeams and in the treetops birds were starting their morning chorus, sounding a little drowsy still. As she watched, riala-blossoms started to unfurl their petals and she didn’t realise she’d stopped moving till a voice said softly in her ear, ‘Beautiful, aren’t they?’
It seemed so natural for his arm to be around her shoulders that her head dropped sideways to rest against him for a moment. She felt desire surge within her in spite of her injuries.
‘Not yet, my little love.’ Deverith smiled at her as if he was quite aware of what she was feeling.
An hour later, he stopped. ‘This’ll do. I want to heal the worst of those injuries. It’s easier in the daylight, somehow.
You’ve been a brave lass.’ His hands were gentle on her shoulders. ‘Will you let me heal you as I did Sarann?’
‘Of course.’ She would trust him with her life.
‘Lie down, then,’ he ordered, ‘and try to relax.’
Once again she felt that strange subliminal humming, only this time the energy purred softly along her own limbs.
There was a tingling sensation and time ceased to matter, then the golden tide of warmth ebbed and faded.
It took her a minute or two to gather her senses and bring the world back into focus again. When she did, it was to see Deverith gazing earnestly at her from where he knelt by her side. Young eyes he has, she thought, however old he is.
He helped her up and when she looked there were only faint shadows of bruises on her skin and her stiffness had gone. ‘Thank you.’
‘My pleasure, lass.’
She looked at him anxiously. ‘Don’t you need a rest now? I mean, you were absolutely exhausted last time you healed someone in this way.’
‘No, this was only minor healing, surface contusions mainly. It’s mending broken bones or restoring major organs that takes the most out of you.’ He held out his hand. ‘Come on! We’ll find some water, then we’ll have a rest and something to eat. Maybe there’ll be a pool where we can bathe.’
She didn’t hesitate to take his hand and since the path was wider here, kept hold of it.
***
The wildwoods had never seemed so beautiful to Karialla. During the days which followed, there always seemed to be a path they could follow, a flower to admire, a stream or a pool to bathe in. As it was autumn, there were berries, fruits and nuts everywhere for the picking, some of which Karialla had never seen before, plus the waxed rounds of cheese Deverith had brought with him.
They didn’t bother to hunt or fish. It’d have seemed wrong, somehow, to take any creature’s life during this golden interlude. She gave herself up to the pleasures of the moment, a perfect blossom, the misty glory of a fall of water, a massive tree whose feathery green arched gracefully over a little clearing that was perfect for a night’s camp.
‘I’ve missed it,’ Deverith confided one evening. ‘I know I’m too old to go wandering like I used to, but there’s no reason why I can’t make a few shorter excursions into the wildwoods, is there? And you needed this break as well, Karialla. You’ve been working too hard for the past year. You won’t forget Pavlin that way. Only time can ease that
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kind of loss, though the ache is always there.’
She looked at him, tears welling in her eyes. ‘You always seem to understand how I feel.’
He smiled back at her, a tender smile. ‘Because I love you.’
‘I love you too. I loved Pavlin as well, but this is different.’
‘I know. But you were happy together, you and your husband, weren’t you?’
‘Yes. Very happy.’ Except for her childlessness.
‘You shouldn’t try to ignore the memories. You should treasure them, talk about them. They’re the most precious things he’s left you.’
She couldn’t reply because her throat seemed too full of emotion.
The following day she started telling Deverith little stories of what she and Pavlin had done. As she shared her memories with him, he shared a few tales of his own, but she could sense he was s
till holding something back. No matter. When the time was right, he’d tell her more, lift the veil of secrecy that seemed to hang around him, or lift another corner of it, anyway. He was a complex man and she was sure there were many layers to the mystery of him.
As they walked, they found rare medicinal plants growing in abundance and other herbs which she’d never seen before. Under Deverith’s tutelage, she was extending her knowledge of herbal medicines daily. ‘Once a healer, always a healer,’ he said on the second day, grinning at her over a patch of scented blue forestbalm.
‘I feel it’s an honour to have the gift of Healing,’ she replied, bruising a leaf and holding it to her nose. ‘Aah! Just smell that!’
He put his head close to hers and they sniffed the delicate perfume together. ‘I’ll make you a phial of its oil when we get back, if you like. It’s one of my favourite perfume plants.’
‘I’d love that.’
The rich scents of the wildwoods filled her nostrils and sometimes seemed to cloud her brain, drifting around her as she walked like smoke from a distant fire. Suddenly she remembered the mist generated by the deleff and shivered.
‘Cold?’
‘No. I just remembered something.’ She told him about that experience and he listened with his usual grave interest.
When she had finished the story, he said quietly, ‘You’re very honoured, lass. It’s not often the deleff spread their wings to save anyone.’
‘You’ve seen the deleff’s wings?’
I’ve seen them use the wings several times to save themselves when they were trapped by violence. I’ve not seen the mist rise, though, or even heard tales of it. That’s something new to me.’
‘They were the same deleff as brought you out of the wildwoods. It’s almost as if the two of them are looking after us.’
‘Perhaps they are.’
They walked along in silence after that, each lost in thought, but the silence was as comfortable as their conversations.
‘Have to bring the apprentices out here one day,’ he said idly that evening. ‘Teach them to know their herbs. Teach them how to look for new ones.’ He grinned across at her. ‘Good excuse for another little trip, eh, lass?’
